Health commissioner: Fracking review will be finished “in the next few weeks”

New York Health Commissioner Nirav Shah broke his silence on the state’s review of the health impacts of hydrofracking, telling a panel of lawmakers he anticipates completing the analysis in “the next few weeks.”

Asked by Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried about the state of the review, Shah said “the vast majority of the material for our review, the health review, is available on the Internet at the DEC website.”

Shah said he anticipates “concluding our review in the next few weeks.” When one assemblyman characterized Shah’s review as a “study,” Shah pushed back.

“It’s actually not a health study,” he said. “It’s very specifically not a health study.” Instead, he said, it’s a review of the DEC’s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement — a lengthy, yet-to-be-finalized environmental assessment — and whether the agency’s proposals are enough to protect public health.

“There’s two charges to the review,” Shah said. “One is looking at any mitigation of any public-health effects and the other is surveillance.”

But a draft of the SGEIS was last released in August 2011 and has presumably been updated to reflect concerns raised in about 80,000 public comments that were submitted to the DEC.